Torah Sparks
Exodus 30:11 – 34:35
“I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!” So worries the White Rabbit in the Disney adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The comic image of this befuddled rabbit feels perfectly joined to his inability to be on time. (I can personally relate!)
But our Torah portion presents us with a very different example of tardiness, one that involves a character who is far from comic and bumbling, and whose lateness results in terrible tragedy. In our story we read that Moses, for once in his life, was late.
Moses had ascended the mountain of God in order to receive the Torah on behalf of Israel, who waited for his return at the foot of the mountain. But he had been gone a long time. “And the people saw that Moses was late in coming down from the mountain, and the people congregated around Aaron and said: ‘Get up and make us a god who will go before us, because this man Moses who brought us up from Egypt – we do not know what has happened to him!’” (Ex. 32:1) Thus begins the catastrophe of the Golden Calf, which would not have happened if only Moses would have been on time!
How could Moses be late? The very idea is so shocking that many have explained that he really was not late at all. Rather, the Israelites were mistaken in their timekeeping. But what if Moses really was late? What could have happened up on the mountain to delay him?
The Talmud (BT Shabbat 86 – 89) has an extensive collection of imaginative stories about what happened atop Mount Sinai and in heaven. From one story (on 89a) we may deduce the cause of Moses’ tardiness. Apparently Moses was rushing and did not so much as say a word of greeting to God, Who admonished him: “What, don’t people say ‘Shalom” in your city?” Moses apologetically explained that, as a mere servant of the Almighty, he would not be so impertinent as to greet God. But God would have none of it. God replied, “Nonetheless, you should have helped Me.” But what help did God need? What was God doing? The story reveals: “When Moses ascended on high he found the Holy Blessed One tying crowns to the letters [of the Torah.]”
We may understand from this story that the entire Torah was complete and “ready to go.” Ready to pick up the parcel for delivery, Moses was not going to waste another second and did not even say “Shalom” to God. But the delay in the launch of the Torah was caused because God had insisted on adding crowns to the letters. Our tradition tells us that this was not merely a decorative touch, although beautifying the Torah is a great value in itself. These extra crowns also would serve, in future generations, as the material to inspire new interpretations.
In taking Her own good time, God was preparing a Torah that would last for all time. But, as a result, its immediate delivery was delayed. Moreover, God’s efforts were invested in creating a Torah that would benefit from human creativity. God expected human help in making the Torah. But Moses was both deferential and in a hurry. He did not want to be late. Ironically, had he helped God tie the crowns, perhaps the task would have been completed more quickly and he would have descended the mountain in time.
The tragedy of the Golden Calf was the outcome of the clash between our very human limitations of dependency and impatience, contrasted with God’s faith in our greater capacities for independence and patience. The further irony is that God’s faith in us was vindicated eventually. But it took us more time than God had impatiently supposed. We have justified God’s faith in us, but, like Moses, we have been a little late in doing so.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein
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image: “Tunnels of Time” © “fdecomite” used with permission via Creative Commons License
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